The Wrack

A new strategy for estuary habitat restoration

Scientists at the Wells Reserve have always been deeply interested in salt marsh restoration. For decades, they have focused on how salt marshes degrade and how they can be restored. It's no surprise, then, that this week's Federal Register specifically mentions the Wells Reserve in NOAA's request for comments on a revised draft of the Estuary Habitat Restoration Strategy.

The Estuary Restoration Act was created in 2000 to establish a collaborative process among Federal agencies for addressing the pressures facing the nation’s estuaries. The act, last amended in 2007, has four purposes:

Promotion of estuary habitat restoration through a coordinated Federal approach relying on common standards for monitoring and a common system for tracking restored acreage;

Development of a national strategy for creating and maintaining effective estuary habitat restoration partnerships among public agencies as well as through public-private partnerships;

Provision of Federal assistance through cooperative agreements for efficient financing of estuary habitat restoration projects; and

Development and enhancement of monitoring and research capabilities to ensure that estuary habitat restoration efforts are based on sound scientific understanding and innovative technologies.

The full notice is in the Federal Register Vol. 75, No. 219 (November 15, 2010) and can be downloaded here (look for the Wells mention at the bottom of the first column on the fourth page):